Hugo Ramirez, struck by a hit-and-run truck driver yesterday, was the 26th cyclist killed by a motorist on NYC streets in 2017. City Hall reported 18 cyclist fatalities last year.

A semi truck driver ran over and killed cyclist Hugo Ramirez in Maspeth yesterday, then left the scene.

Motorists have killed at least 26 people riding bikes in New York City this year, including three victims of the October West Side Greenway attack, according to crash data tracked by City Hall and Streetsblog. That’s a 44 percent increase from 2016, when City Hall reported 18 cyclist fatalities for the year. Even if you don’t count the victims of the greenway rampage, 23 cyclist deaths is more than any year since 2007.

The crash happened just before 8 a.m. Monday. NYPD told Streetsblog that Ramirez, 23, and the truck driver were both northbound on 48th Street near 54th Avenue when the trucker hit Ramirez while turning right onto a Long Island Expressway ramp. The description indicates that Ramirez had the right of way.

Ramirez, a delivery worker who lived in Corona, was pronounced dead at Elmhurst Hospital.

Police sources told the Daily News “it’s possible the truck driver didn’t notice hitting anyone,” which could hamper efforts to see justice done for the victim.

In New York, hit-and-run convictions depend on the prosecution’s ability to prove that a driver knew or had reason to know a collision occurred. When a motorist strikes someone and leaves the scene, “I didn’t see him” is not an admission of guilt, but a defense strategy.

Yet NYPD often offers a preemptive defense after a hit-and-run driver kills someone, even if investigators have yet to identify or interview a suspect. The department also has a history of clearing hit-and-run drivers on its own, rather than filing charges and letting the justice system decide innocence or guilt.

With cyclist deaths trending upward two years in a row, Mayor de Blasio has to do more to focus DOT and NYPD resources on safer street designs and enforcement of the most dangerous driving violations, like failure to yield. De Blasio could also stop allowing bike-hating community board members to obstruct street safety projects.

Instead, the mayor’s major bike-related initiative heading into 2018 is a crackdown on electric bikes that will target working cyclists like Ramirez.

The mayor, reached for comment, was quoted as saying, “What? I’m in Iowa. Shhhhhh. Krrrrrr. Must be a bad connection. I’ll have to call you back. Okay. Okay. Bye. Zzzzz.”

HamTech87

Is there an Amber Alert out for the killer of Ramirez?

Larry Littlefield

The worst nightmare is Cuomo and DeBlasio running for President, and competing go see who can sell out more to special interests. Especially those with lots of people on the payroll in Florida.

Most of the huge retroactive pension increases, special tax deals, and debt bombs have been associated with Presidential runs. By NY pols who had no business running for President.

It goes back to Lindsay and Rockefeller in the late 1960s/early 1970s. Look at the shape they left NYC in general, and the transit system in particular, in.

johnmassengale

It would be good to know WHERE the cyclists were killed. How many had the right of way? How many in the mixing zone where turn lanes cross over protected bike lanes?

qrt145

Indeed it would. I don’t have a table to give you, but from my recollections based on reading this blog daily for several years, I get the sense that the vast majority of cyclists who were killed were not in bike lanes of any kind. I can only remember one case involving a mixing zone.

As for the right of way, that tends to be disputed.

Parque_Hundido

Amber Alerts are for child abductions, not general police investigations.

Hmm, I’m not really sure how this is going to help, except perhaps in cases where it alerts a driver to the fact that he may have been involved in an accident that he was not aware of.

Otherwise, without a license plate or accurate description of the vehicle, I don’t see it helping much. CCTV cameras are more helpful.

qrt145

It could help prosecute drunken hit-and-run cases if the alert leads to finding the perpetrator quickly. A problem with current law is that the penalties for drunken driving are stronger than those for hit-and-run; therefore a rational and informed drunk driver (not sure if they exist…) has an incentive to run away if they hit someone. If they get caught the next day, at least they’ll be sober and can only be prosecuted for the hit-and-run.

wklis

Will cyclists have to wear helmet cameras to record their entire ride?

JarekFA

I already do!

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

NYPD can provide no evidence that ticketing bike riders when a motorist kills a cyclist reduces the prevalence of fatal or injurious crashes. And yet the practice persists years after Mayor de Blasio supposedly ushered in a more data-driven approach to traffic enforcement under the banner of Vision Zero.

Yet it appears Mayor de Blasio won't let the company's horrendous safety record interfere with its city contracts. Meanwhile, a lawsuit brought by Ramirez's family alleges shoddy investigative work on the part of NYPD and Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez.

Eighteen people died in New York City traffic in April, and 4,424 were injured, according to City Hall’s Vision Zero View crash data map. Through the first four months of 2017, City Hall reported 38 pedestrians and cyclists killed by city motorists and 4,314 injured, compared to 44 deaths and 4,685 injuries in the first four months of 2016.